Public Power NY Coalition Responds to Hochul's Budget

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2023
Contact: info@publicpowerny.org
Aaron Eisenberg, (914)980-9117

Public Power NY Coalition Responds to Hochul’s Budget

Albany, New York – Today Governor Kathy Hochul announced that her budget proposal includes aspects of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA), a widely popular piece of legislation that passed the Senate last year. Hochul’s plan allows the New York Power Authority to build renewable energy and requires the DPS to provide some discount for low-income New Yorkers, but fails to include key labor provisions and other critical elements of BPRA that will ensure access to affordable clean energy, create good union jobs, and provide a safer, secure future for New York families.

The Public Power NY Coalition released the following statement:

“The Build Public Renewables Act will enable New York to lead the way to clean air, green union jobs, affordable energy bills, and a secure, liveable future we’d be proud to pass down to our children. Governor Hochul’s budget proposal takes tentative steps in the right direction, but New Yorkers deserve to go all the way. Workers in the clean energy sector deserve prevailing wages, project labor agreements, and a true just transition and training funds. The BPRA mandates this, which is why Pat Guidice, the chair of the IBEW Utility Labor Council, called the bill’s labor provisions “exceptional labor language” that they had “never seen anything like it…before in any legislation.” His only fear was that it was “too good, and would be watered down.” This version the Governor proposed does just that.

Furthermore, the Governor’s proposal omits nearly all of the democratization elements found in BPRA. NYPA’s resources must be used to build as much renewable energy as it takes to protect our climate and safeguard our future, especially for disadvantaged communities on the frontlines of pollution and the climate crisis. This means ensuring a true mandate for NYPA to actually build renewables when the state is falling behind, not just reviewing our lack of progress and shutting down peaker plants by 2035 when the original Build Public Renewables Act called for their closure by 2030. Hochul’s team has indicated that this proposal is only the beginning of developing this policy, and we look forward to working with the legislature and Governor to ensure we fulfill the promise of the Build Public Renewables Act in the final budget.”

For more information please contact us at: info@publicpowerny.org